Sunday, January 4, 2009

In My Mailbox: Take Four

Created by The Story Siren, "In My Mailbox" shows all books gained (for review, from the library, or bought) weekly! This week was pretty slow, post-holidays. (Summaries courtesy of Amazon.com):

My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald (coming out March 2009)

Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem solver. After the local homecoming queen shows up at her family's struggling drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix, Lucy has a long line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won't help save the pharmacy. If only she could find a way to make the pharmacy the center of town again-a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy's family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?

Thanks, Lisa, for sending me a copy of your book! It looks really cute--and I love the cover!

3 Willows by Ann Brashares

seeds

Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.

roots

Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all...

leaves

Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products.

It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.

Thanks to Random House for sending me a copy! It looks good-hopefully Brashares' new novel is as good as her previous four bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series!

Willa by Heart by Colleen Murtagh Paratore

It's almost summer on Cape Cod, where Willa Havisham and Joey Kennelly are finally enjoying their status as the most compatible couple at Bramble Academy. When the community theater advertises auditions for Our Town, Willa and Joey seem fated to play the romantic leads. But when Marielle, the dazzling new girl, offers up some dramatic competition, Willa turns greener than the lawn at her parents' inn.

With two inn weddings the same weekend in June, Willa, who is now the official assistant wedding planner, has enough to do just helping Chef Rosie bake the wedding cakes of the century, and keeping sixteen beauty pageant bridesmaids in check. When a dance with a Southern gentleman sends her spinning beneath the stars, there's no telling what's destined for Willa and Joey.

Gah! I should've warned myself for spoilers before I read the Amazon summary, because I've just read the first book and this little description gave a lot away. Oh, well--I kinda predicted what would happen later after I read the first book, and of course Stella would have to make Willa her assistant and of course Willa and Joey would get together. And no, I'm not psychic.

I picked this one up at Borders (in paperback! Yay!) and can't wait to get the second, Cupid Chronicles, at the library, so I can start this one--it looks just as great, if not better, than the first!

Sorry about not being able to take part in a link exchange. I'm currently working on renovating my blog with a header in the works and various side bar links so I'm taking extra careful measures to make sure my simple mind get confused and mess everything up. I'd love to in (hopefully) the near future! :)

Yeah, there's I think two more Willa books coming out this year. I was lucky enough to do an author chat with Coleen Paratore at my work this past summer and she mentioned there were more coming out but the covers are being changed to attract an older audience. I think one of the covers is up on Amazon. (And I think you'll love the other two-they're so good!)